


The Archivists

by A185160



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Subtext, The 14 - Freeform, The Entities - Freeform, Was inspired by the latest episode, the fears - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24188845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A185160/pseuds/A185160
Summary: Jonah Magnus had fourteen Archivists before Jonathan Sims. They all failed him in one way or another.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	The Archivists

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by episode 167 to write about the other archivists pre-Gertrude and the idea that they had all been taken by one fear or another (more notes at the end).

Jonah Magnus had fourteen Archivists before Jonathan Sims. They all failed him in one way or another. 

The first Archivist is there when the face he wears is still his own. It is 1818 as Jonah looks into the eager face of one Edward Stenhouse. They are together through the early years, as Millbank is completed and Barnabas Bennett is lost to the lonely. 

But Edward is too eager for the Dark, for the things that lurk in the shadows and slip away unnoticed. He confessed it once to Jonah, over too many bottles of brandy, that an experience as a young boy caused him to seek out the peaceful calm of dark spaces. He tracks Darkness itself with a singular focus, and if Jonah didn’t know better he’d think it was a sign of The Hunt. 

It is when Jonah introduces Edward to Maxwell Rayner that he knows he has lost him. In those days, especially when The Institute was first beginning, a handshake meant more than a contract, and a promise between two men was considered binding. Not binding enough for The Eye though. Jonah does not make this mistake again. 

Edward leaves his position. Jonah knew it would happen. He does mourn when Rayner brings the news of Edward's death, but by then Jonah is too busy drawing up a contract and selecting the next one. He wants to keep this Archivist far from the Dark. 

The next is an older man. A man too experienced with the darkness that lurks inside the people around him to seek it out on purpose. Jonah himself is growing older now, and it is almost nice to have an Archivist who matches his own fear of death. 

His name is Arthur Thompson and he does not want to die. Jonah brings him into close confidence, and allows him to see what he is building. Arthur does not flee from the Watcher’s Crown. He revels in the idea that he will live on. They both ignore the fact that there can be only one heart of The Institute. Jonah has no intention of letting Arthur take the place that is his. 

As the ritual begins, others appear to stop it. They do not wish to live in a world where they are known, where they are watched. The prison collapses, the prisoners die, and among them lies one Arthur Thompson, burnt to ash in his quest for immortality. 

Jonah takes a new form for the first time. He leaves his wretched, aging body behind and picks up one Joseph Wilson. He is younger than the forms Jonah will take later, a little too young, but in those days money quiets wagging tongues. Jonah has enough saved up from his last life to take over without much trouble. Anyone who makes enough noise is placed on a list that is passed on to one of Mordechai Lukas’s children. 

Jonah begins his search for another Archivist. This is a new age in academia, and there is more variety in his choices. However, he doesn’t take notice until one schooled in deception steps through his door. 

She, for this is his first, but certainly not last, female Archivist, comes through the door with a fake name and documents prepared. A young woman from a family with too many mouths to feed and no one to pick up the slack. They are in an age where her only option is to marry the first who comes along or to distort her own identity, and she has chosen the latter. It intrigues him enough to give her the position, and she breathes a sigh of relief, never suspecting he has known her true name and face from the moment she stepped through the door. 

She is brutal in her efficiency, desperate to keep her job. Some of his researchers sense that something is off, but her work speaks for itself. She trusts no one, accepts no help, and slowly begins to isolate herself in the archives. It is a promising start. 

Yet, it is this determination to work alone that brings her downfall. She believes her disguise of Michael Simmons will protect Nellie O’Connor. And it does, for a time. Then one day while searching the streets for a lead on one of her statements, a Hunter catches her alone. She is ripped apart and buried quietly by the Institute. Jonah mourns her and decides to start hiring assistants for his Archivists. Some may still be determined to work alone, but he can at least pad the line of fire. 

The next Archivist comes with two assistants. This time Jonah did not hire fresh. Instead, he picked a researcher already well established in the trade. Louis Allard feels he knows what an archivist is and should do. He will be a proper archivist and simply log what happens. Jonah knows better, and by the glances Louis’s assistants give each other, they do too. 

As Louis begins to lose assistants, he panics. As a man who’s life has always followed a specific and firmly planned path, he does not know how to handle a wrench in things. It fascinates Jonah. He wants to See how it ends. So he begins to throw more obstacles in Louis’s path. He gives him strange and macabre statements. He switches out assistants with no warning. Some die, some disappear, and some take off on a hunt they will never complete. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is how Louis responds. 

At first Louis manages to remain calm. Jonah is almost impressed. Almost. Then, as the days slip by and Louis’s assistants change almost daily, he begins to slip too. Eventually Louis becomes obsessed with keeping his assistants with him. The only way they will stay is if he forces them too. And so he does. Louis loses himself to the Slaughter. After all, assistants cannot leave if they are dead. 

Jonah lets this go on for a time, but quickly grows bored of Louis’s unrelenting anger and the deaths he causes. Coverups aren't as cheap as they used to be. He calls in the police, the first of many times they will come to his doors, and lets them take Louis away. Locked up and separated from both his Entities Louis fades into nothing. And Jonah needs a new Archivist. 

The next hire surprises even him. By this point it’s been so long since Jonah has been surprised that the feeling fascinates him. He is distracted with it for a while and hires the new man in that distraction. A former butcher turned academic called Theodore Cooper. 

To Jonah’s surprise again, Theodore Cooper is a good Archivist. He lets his assistants handle most of the investigating but he’s not a man afraid of getting his hands dirty. A carryover from his past in the killing beds. It is an era of new technology and new factories, leaving Theodore out of his old job and a new Entity emerging. 

Statements flood in, most concerning this new fear, and Theodore quickly becomes obsessed. He wants to go back, to stay in his prime, a feeling Jonah knows well. He lets Theodore continue on his way for a while but eventually a smell begins to permeate the archives, one that Jonah cannot let go. It bothers his nose, and more importantly, bothers his donors. Jonah confronts the man, and the ensuing altercation damages Joseph Wilson beyond repair. Jonah has to act fast and takes Theodore’s body as his own. 

It is a difficult adjustment, wearing the face of a former Archivist. But Jonah takes what he can get, and a promotion from Archivist to Institute Head isn’t the strangest thing in the world. His researchers learn to accept it. However, it means he needs someone new to fill Theodore’s old position. 

His next pick is his first openly female Archivist - an older woman called Dorothy Violet. She raises even more eyebrows than Theodore had, but Jonah needed someone quiet he could control until he can drop Theodore’s body and take someone new. 

Dorothy keeps her head down at first. Her assistants are often patronizing and cold. They talk down to this harmless old woman, and openly plan to take her place. They have nothing against her personally but she represents a threat to their status and a challenge to their superiority. They don’t like that. Jonah knows this. He knows and does nothing. 

But Dorothy exceeds his expectations. She searches for facts in strange places, walks around the things that try to kill her, and her fading eyesight and hearing means she is nowhere near afraid enough to satisfy Avatars or Entities. Dorothy lasts for so long the Eye begins to take an interest in her. 

Unfortunately, no matter how competent Dorothy is, her desire for help, for a connection with her younger co-workers betrays her. One of them takes a sort of pity on her, a man called Alfred David. He lets her tag along on his tamer investigations and brings her tea during the cold mornings. One day he discovers a dragonfly struggling to fly in the grass outside the Institute and brings it in to Dorothy. Jonah knows what is going to happen before it does. 

She becomes obsessed with the little wounded thing, first nursing it back to health, then keeping it in the archives with her. It whispers in her ear, a small buzzing sound that, despite her hearing problems, only she hears. She lets in more of its kin. Dragonflies flood the archives, streaming from every wall and door. They crowd around Dorothy, whispering to her, loving her, worshipping her. 

Alfred David shoots the thing that used to be Dorothy Violet in the head. She struggles to her feet, but before she can get up, he sets her ablaze. The police arrive to take care of things, and the next week Jonah offers the Archivist position to Alfred. It is the first time an assistant has been directly promoted. Jonah smiles through Theodore’s mouth and tells Alfred David he should be proud of himself. The man is shaken but he accepts. 

Yet Dorothy Violet impacted him deeply. Alfred David never again approaches colleagues the same way. He keeps his distance from everyone, slowly fading into his work. At first Jonah believes he will come back, but he does not. He draws further and further back into a haze of work and endless dreamscapes. 

Jonah doesn’t realize what has happened until Matthew Lukas stops by one day. When Jonah introduces Matthew to Alfred there is a moment where they stop and simply stare at one another. Matthew nods once. Then Alfred is gone. Jonah meets him once afterward, at an Institute Funding Event. The former Archivist stands arm in arm with Matthew Lukas, separate from each other and the rest. He sees Jonah looking, smiles, and they both vanish. Jonah never sees either of them again. 

Theodore’s body begins to wear down, so Jonah chooses a quiet researcher by the name of Leonard May. People are surprised by his choice, but once he has safely taken Leonard over business resumes as usual and they are no longer surprised. It is time for a new Archivist. 

Cyril Lewis takes on the role of Archivist with a quiet resignation. Jonah expects another Alfred David and prepares himself for a dry up in funding. He will not allow the Lukas family near this one. He doesn’t want another Archivist stolen.

But once Cyril has settled he takes to the role with a wild enthusiasm. War breaks out then, bringing with it a whole host of new statements. Jonah worries about Cyril becoming lost in a Hunt or the rage of Slaughter like some of his predecessors.

But Cyril continues as he always has. It is not until Jonah takes a closer look at the archives and realizes Cyril has sorted all statements related to flight or pilots into a separate pile that he realizes what is going on. 

He tries to stop it by flooding Cyril with all the Buried statements he can find, but by then Cyril has met Simon Fairchild, and there’s only so much he can do. One day Cyril Lewis climbs to the top of the Institute and leaps into the sky. He does not come down. And Jonah needs a new Archivist. 

Jonah begins his search among the researchers. They are wary of the position. Most are old enough at this point to remember the fates of his other Archivists. He does not want to deal with the public, so Jonah begins to scope out universities and the young people returning from the continent. They are desperate enough for work that they will not ask questions. It is there he finds a former nurse called Alice Marion. She did not want to be a nurse but when given the chance to get away, to make a difference, she took it. 

She returned to University, determined to make it through her courses before marriage, unlike so many of her classmates. Her determination interests Jonah and when he extends an invitation to work at his Institute she takes it. 

There are more female researchers now, so fewer eyebrows are raised when Alice takes the position of Archivist. Yet Alice herself still feels a desperate need to prove herself. This pleases Jonah immensely. Alice does as she is told and investigates statements with her assistants. But Alice is curious, too curious. She wants to know all, to learn everything she can in her quest for knowledge. At first Jonah is satisfied by this. After all, servants of the Eye should focus on research, they should be curious, always seeking new knowledge. 

He is less than pleased, when on one of her trips Alice encounters a coffin. Her curiosity, which he so valued, places the key in her hand and, despite the coffin’s warning, leads her to open it and walk down. Her assistant tries to stop her but it only leads to his entrance into the coffin as well. Jonah will not find the coffin until many years later but he knows what has happened and he needs a new Archivist. 

This is a new age of investigation and learning with a heaping helping of distrust on the side. They are locked in a silent war, one without weapons. Stuck between two volatile superpowers. People are starting to take notice of The Institute and what goes on there. 

Leonard is beginning to grey and wrinkle, so Jonah has no qualms about leaving him behind and taking over a new body - one belonging to Richard Mendelson. He makes empty promises about employee oversight and new company policies to please the masses and committees and he promotes a researcher called Philip Clifford to the position of Archivist. 

Philip Clifford is afraid. Afraid of his new position, afraid of his new boss, afraid of his assistants, and afraid of the statements he is given. Jonah has no use for one so clouded by fear he is unable to leave his desk to even get a cup of tea. Philip is a safe choice to get the committees out of the Institute and Jonah hates him for it. 

Philip Clifford lasts just long enough in the position for people to stop asking questions and move onto the next scandal. Jonah places a nice simple statement in Philip’s hands then asks him to talk to the seemingly harmless old woman who has far too many cobwebs in her house. Jonah waits for the Mother of Puppets to take what is her due. She, at least, does not disappoint him. 

Jonah begins to grow impatient for a new ritual attempt. Perhaps now that so much time has passed and there is so much to see and learn in this brave new world, he will succeed. He seeks one who is already marked, one who will not be paralyzed with fear or stricken by incurable curiosity. He needs to find a balance. 

Jonah cannot believe his luck when an applicant walks through his door marked by the Entity he fears most. Jack Stevens is an older man, one who fought in the war, flying high above the most dangerous battles before he was brought down and captured. He spent months toiling in a camp before he was shot for some petty offense. He lay there, alone in the dirt, slipping in and out of consciousness. The End marked him then. And yet somehow he survived. The camp was liberated, Jack was set free, and against all odds the wound did not become infected. 

His was a rare marking and Jonah liked his odds. Perhaps it was a gift of sorts from the Ceaseless Watcher, a chance to try again. 

But Jack, like so many others, was a disappointment. The man was cautious to a fault and hesitated to take any real action. Assistants found him difficult to work with and his mark by the End just made him averse to the other fears. Jonah would understand a hesitancy to approach the End. After all, he only exists in this age because of his own fear of it. 

Jonah, though, is a man of action. Jack Stevens is not. His term drags on from the start. And Jonah becomes impatient. He bribes one of Jack's assistants with promises of glory and riches, and she is all too eager to get rid of the old man. The End claims Jack Stevens after all. 

Ivy Moreno comes next. Jonah keeps his promise and promotes her to Archivist before Jack Stevens is cold. Ivy was ambitious in the way Jack hadn't been. She became determined to clean up the archives, to get things in order and bring some semblance of respectability to the position. Jonah lets her. It could be interesting to see how this played out. Unfortunately for him, another Entity saw Ivy Moreno as a personal challenge. 

Doors began to appear in the archives where they hadn’t been before. Stacks of paper were tossed about, and Ivy’s files were frequently mixed together or missing entirely. She fought to keep order, fought to keep herself together, and fought for the respect of her team. She’d replaced all who’d been there with Jack, but rumors are harder to squash than individuals. 

One day, in a fit of humiliated anger and frustration Ivy Moreno stormed up to a door that hadn’t been there before, flung it open, and stepped inside. Jonah saw a new form of her, one twisted and distorted, several times before she was replaced by another. It didn't matter. She was gone and another Archivist had to be found. 

Angus Stacey was next. Another promoted researcher. Another disappointment. Too ambitious for his tasks, too quick to run through resources, and too focused on his own projects to suit Jonah’s needs. His wanderings led him to a stranger who took an interest in Angus and then stole away his face. 

Angus Stacey was also far overshadowed by his replacement, one Gertrude Robinson. A woman marked by several Entities already, Jonah figured she would suit his needs. Archivists with only one mark had never worked before, why not try one with several already? 

Richard Mendelson had started to slow down by then so Jonah took a filing clerk this time. James Wright was his name. Gertrude began watching him closely then, but Jonah dismissed it. She was the Archivist - it was good she was curious. The Eye would show her the truth eventually anyway. Besides this was an age of skepticism. Even if Gertrude told people most wouldn't believe her. 

Gertrude though, Gertrude was not what he had expected. She did not calmly investigate or simply send her assistants after information. She did not cower in fear or hide away in his Institute. No, Gertrude actively fought against the Entities. She did not let them enter her, empower her, or control her. She worked against them, and they fell before her. 

Gertrude would not be manipulated or contained by Jonah and it concerned him. He took a new body, a younger one, unremarkable, one that would not be missed, in order to try and better control Gertrude. 

She saw through Elias Bouchard almost instantly. Gertrude would not be held down by a new face or form. Indeed, she worked harder than ever to end the rituals. Jonah could only watch as she ripped through Avatars and Entities alike with fire and blood. Then one day Gertrude suddenly stopped, and Jonah learned what he needed to know. 

She tried to fool him. She really did. But Jonah had been playing the game for far longer than one old woman. All she had to show for her efforts were three bullets to the chest. 

Jonah Magnus knew how to bring about the Watcher’s Crown. Jonah Magnus needed a new Archivist. 

And there was Jonathan Sims.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to follow the timeline as closely as possible, but as we all know it gets a little weird in some places. Still I did my best to make everything make sense!


End file.
